One Shot Changed It All
by Grayroc
Summary: Sarah's desire to follow orders and her feelings for Chuck lead to an awful confrontation.


One Shot Changed it All

Monday Evening

Chuck was in his bedroom packing his bag. He had been planning to run for a week now. The thing that amazed him was that Sarah knew about his plan and wasn't going to stop him. She was clear with him that she couldn't run away with him and that made him sad. But she wouldn't try to stop him. It had been an amazing week. Two months ago he had finally reached his breaking point. First there was Beckman and Graham who treated him little better than a serf. He was their personal possession, their intersect. He had been sent out on mission after mission with Casey and Sarah, sure there was the excitement and adrenalin rush being out in the field and dealing with danger. It was a far cry from his earlier life being a loser and moping after Jill. But he really wasn't cut out to be a spy, Deep down he knew that. Hell he never got a red cent for all his intelligence work and going on missions. His only salary was still from the Buy More store. When this all started he told them he was a US citizen on American Soil he had rights. He was told that he had no rights under the Patriot Act. They were high enough in the NSA and CIA to lock him up and throw away the key or make him just disappear. Second, Beckman and Graham had made implied threats against Ellie if he didn't cooperate with them that was a noose around his neck they could always yank on. Third he had finally figured out the Sarah was in love with the CIA far more than him. He had to run away from them all quickly. So he had planned it all out and was ready to execute his plan. The one piece he was proudest of was how he would protect Ellie from any reprisals. He had prepared a Trojan virus that he could release with damming evidence against Beckman and Graham if he didn't deactivate it every Monday at 11:55 pm. Once he was out of their clutches he would threaten them with it if they came after him or hurt Ellie. There was nothing they could do to stop the Trojan virus being released, only he could.

He had kept all his escape plans thus far secret; it had taken him months to put all the pieces together. Then last Friday night Sarah had come over and she confessed to him about her feelings for him. That she wanted to have a real relationship, They started kissing and they made love. She was his Achilles heel. She fogged his brain. On Sunday after the most incredible weekend he had ever had he confessed to her about his plan to go on the run, that he despised Beckman and Graham. She asked him lots of questions about how he was going to do it, how was he going to avoid Casey and the surveillance. He told her everything except his ace in the hole about protecting Ellie.

He looked at his bag went through his mental checklist and turned to look at Sarah and said that's it, I 'm ready to go. Remember your job is to distract Casey for one hour and then I have a chance. Sarah had a funny look on her face, like she hadn't heard him then she said. "Roger that I will secure the asset and bring him over awaiting extract." Chuck's eyes widened in horror, a realization came crashing into his brain. My God, Sarah had seduced him and played him and had betrayed him and he had no inkling. Chuck greatest strength and his greatest weakness was that he gave his heart completely and once he had done that he trusted the person with his life. Sarah had known that. Chuck stared at her. Sarah said. "Chuck we can't let you leave. I'm sorry I tricked you into telling me. I was ordered to gain your confidence because we suspected you were planning on running." Sarah in one smooth movement pulled the gun tucked behind her in her waistband. "Let's go Chuck, it will soon be over and we will put you in a secure location." Sarah now relied on her training and the fact that Chuck had feelings for her. She talked softly and just wanted him to start walking. Once that happened they could tranquilize him at Casey's apartment and the extract team would take him away. She was doing her job, she did what Graham told her to do. This was her duty. Why then did she feel cheap and soiled and wanted to be a million miles from here. When she had been told to seduce him she resisted a voice screamed in her head don't do this. But she had squelched these voices before in order for her to be the best agent the CIA ever had.

She pointed the gun at Chuck. Chuck had lost all hope, the sense of betrayal was so profound that he wanted to die. Then like a star exploding in his head he realized that their hold on him this last year had been a fear of dying or being hurt. Casey had been a bully and was always threatening him. Right now, in this moment he longed for death, his soul was weary, the pain in his heart was almost crippling. So he would embrace death. Chuck moved forward towards Sarah. "Pull the trigger Sarah, please go ahead it will only hurt for a second." Sarah froze.

"Chuck don't I will shoot."

"I'm counting on it, here let me get closer so you won't miss."

"Chuck, don't". Sarah took her finger off the trigger, she wouldn't, she couldn't shoot Chuck that she would never do, not for anyone including Graham.

Chuck walked right up to Sarah, until the gun was touching his chest. Sarah was about to holster the gun and use her martial arts to subdue him. But a half second before she could do it Chuck's hands flashed out and grabbed her hands and the gun. At first she thought he was trying to wrestle the gun from her and she was ready for that and would win that battle every time. But Chuck steadied the gun against his chest and put the thumb on his right hand onto the trigger and pushed. At the last instance Sarah filled with horror realized what Chuck was doing and moved the gun from over his heart. There was a loud bang and for a moment everything slowed down. There was the smell of the gunpowder, there was the ringing in their ears. Sarah felt Chuck's hands relax their grip.

Everything changed with that one shot.

Chuck fell back on his bed and the blood marked his shirt and stained the duvet. Sarah let out a primal scream and the gun fell to the floor. Casey who had been watching leapt up grabbed the first aid kit and ran across the common space and burst into the apartment. Sarah was putting pressure on the wound and screaming help. Casey gave her the first aid kit and called for a medical helicopter. He ran back to the apartment and opened a small fridge with two units of O type blood and ran back.

Ellie and Devon heard the gunshot and ran across the common. Ellie froze at the scene in front of her. Devon didn't he saw Chuck on the bed, the blood and the gun on the floor and Sarah putting pressure on the wound. He saw Casey with the blood and then he acted. Devon checked the wound it was in Chuck's upper left chest. He then carefully moved the body so he could see behind Chuck. There was the exit wound. He started an IV and said "call 911". Casey said "Already done, there will be a helicopter here in 12 minutes." Ellie rushed towards the bed and started to talk to Chuck. Doing anything she could to deal with the shock. She looked into his eyes and was happy when Chuck blinked, tears were in his eyes. He groaned. "Ellie they can't hurt you now." Ellie kept on saying. "Chuck look at me, keep fighting look at me." The helicopter came and they took Ellie and Devon and Chuck away, all of them fighting to keep him alive."

Casey and Sarah sat in Casey's apartment, waiting for the cleanup crew. Both were covered in Chuck's blood. Casey spoke first. "Walker what happened?" Sarah was having trouble concentrating, her hand was shaking and her eyes were blinking rapidly. He grabbed the gun and pulled the trigger, check the tape. I would never shoot Chuck, don't you know that Casey?"

Casey nodded. "Yeah, I know you wouldn't hurt him. It was all too much for Chuck. I've seen this before desperate people do desperate things. We made him desperate, didn't we?" Sarah then quietly said. "I didn't shoot him but I hurt him far worse than a bullet ever could Casey. I betrayed him; I could see it in his eyes. I made him desperate by sleeping with him and letting on I loved him."

Then the monitor came on and Beckman and Graham appeared. Beckman said "Report"

They did and they sent the tapes that had recorded everything. At the end of the report Beckman said. "Well, I hope that the asset survives, if he does we can then secure him and make sure he doesn't do this again. You will both return to Washington for further re assignment." Sarah then spoke. "General Beckman, Director Graham his name is Chuck Bartowski." She then stared straight through them.

Casey said. "I'm going to clean up and change my clothes." Sarah didn't listen she walked across the common area and back to Chuck's room. She sat on the bed for several minutes and looked around the room she had gotten to know so well and couldn't settle her thoughts or her feelings. She looked at Chuck's bag and there tucked away in a little pocket was a picture of her and Chuck, a selfie of the two of them. Tears now filled her eyes and a pain gripped her heart. It was like a vise squeezing tighter and tighter. She stood up took two steps and fainted. Casey found her on the floor gripping the photo. He checked her and knew she was breathing but something was terribly wrong. Shit what was going on here. Everything was falling apart.

At 11:55 pm Chuck did not key in a code. The Trojan virus activated and a message was sent to FBI special agent Mac Showers in the Chicago office. Another message was sent to Ann Marie Wittner at the Department of Justice and finally one message went to Senator Donald McKay, chair for the committee that had authority over the CIA and NSA. In it Chuck told his story and pleaded for someone to keep his sister and her husband Devon safe from the clutches of General Diane Beckman and Director Langston Graham. The next morning the shit hit the fan.

By morning Chuck was in a military hospital under CIA guard. By noon a dozen FBI agents swooped into the office and detained the CIA guards and took over his care and then when he was more stable he was whisked away to a more secure location. Twenty-Four hours later an urgent and closed door meeting of the Senate select committee was called into session and Beckman and Graham were called to present evidence on the matter of one Chuck Bartowski. Casey was placed on paid suspension and report to the FBI's Los Angeles office for questioning and later to talk with the Department of Justice. Sarah Walker now a key witness against Beckman and Graham was taken into the care of the FBI. She was now in a psychiatric hospital under close guard by the FBI. Sarah had a psychotic break. Later after she was off the drugs and a little more stable they would determine that her feelings for Chuck, that were very real and her devotion to following orders, especially give to her by Graham were in direct opposition to each other. The triggering event had been when the gun went off and she thought Chuck was going to die. Her psyche simply couldn't handle it. The guilt and shame and love she felt for Chuck flooded her mind all at the same time and her mind simply shut down.

Six Months Later

In the end Beckman didn't go on trial that isn't how things worked. She was demoted to Colonel, and pensioned off. She signed untold documents that threatened her if she ever talked to anyone about what she had done. She was shunned by her former military colleagues.

Graham's arrogance was his undoing. He thought he could deal but in the end he was charged under the Patriot Act and simply put away in the bunker that Chuck would have spent the next ten years in.

Casey was given a choice; resign his commission and retire; be demoted to a permanent rank of captain and go back to the Marines. He chose to do the latter option and went back to being a real Marine.

The government lawyers worked out a deal with Ellie and Devon and Chuck and compensated them all in exchange for their silence. They removed the intersect from Chuck and he got a letter from the President thanking him for his service. They all moved to Chicago to try and start a new life.

Sarah slowly recovered and was gradually taken off the drugs they had used to stabilize her. She resigned from the CIA and was given a full pension and further compensation. It turned out that Graham had over the years slowly and carefully conditioned her to follow his orders. The new Director of the CIA and the FBI were appalled at what she had endured and determined that she was as much a victim as Chuck had been. Sarah sat down before she left the hospital and wrote a long letter. It was hard for her because she had always had trouble expressing herself. She explained what Graham had done to her but most all Sarah told Chuck of her shame and asked his forgiveness. She wished him every happiness in life and knew someday he would find someone that would heal his heart that she had so cruelly broken. She said she was going to move to the only place that she had ever truly been happy. She asked the FBI to give the letter to Chuck and left.

One Year Later

Sarah had a little apartment near the beach, she had gotten a dog. The dog was her closest companion. She had two part time jobs at two different charitable organizations along with her government pension she was making ends meet. She went to a little community church in the area and was finding it an essential part of making it through each week. It was Saturday and she was walking her dog a lovely cocker spaniel along the beach. As she was walking she heard a voice from her past.

"Sarah." She turned and saw Chuck standing there. He had her letter in his hand and said.

"Can we talk, we really need to talk." Sarah just nodded because there was a lump in her throat and her eyes were a little blurry. Finally, after what seemed an eternity she said "Yes. Let's go to my apartment it's just around the corner." The apartment was pleasant; there were some prints on the wall and lots of books. The apartment was spotless and Spartan neat. There was no TV. On top of a side table was a framed somewhat crinkled photo of Sarah and Chuck. He remembered the photo and when he saw it he knew he had done the right thing in coming back to Burbank. It was going to work out. It would take a while and they had a lot of hard work ahead but he needed to be with her.

Chuck looked at her and simply said. "Sarah, I forgive you and I love you."


End file.
